FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



CHALTON 



as her second husband, died seised of the manor 

 29 September, 1416, when it passed to Sir Gilbert 

 Talbot, son and heir of Ankarette, sister of John le 

 Strange. 51 But shortly before Isabel's death Sir Gilbert 

 had granted the reversion of the manor to trustees, 5 ' 

 and died 17 November, l^lS. 43 On 4 May, 1426, 

 the executors of Sir Gilbert granted the manor to 

 Sir John Montgomery of Faulkbourne (co. Essex) and 

 Elizabeth his wife, 64 and on 12 October, 1448, the 

 manor was settled upon Sir John and Elizabeth and 

 their issue. 55 Nine months later Sir John died seised 

 of the manor, his heir being his son John, aged twenty- 

 three. 56 This John must have died before 1465, for 

 in the inquisition taken after his mother's death in that 

 year, it was stated that her heir was her son Sir Thomas 

 Montgomery, aged thirty and more. 57 This Thomas 

 was one of the most eminent men of his time, 

 standing high in the favour of Edward IV, Richard 

 III, and Henry VII. He made his will at Faulk- 

 bourne 28 July, I489, 58 and died seised of the manor 

 of Chalton in 1494, his heir being his sister Alice, 

 the wife of Edmund Wiseman." In 1496 Anne 

 Montgomery, widow, probably the widow of Thomas, 

 but possibly the widow of his brother John, released 

 all her interest in the manor to Sir Reginald 

 Bray, Sir John Norbury, and others for purposes of 

 settlement on her sister-in-law Alice. 60 In 1505 

 Edmund Wiseman and Alice his wife, and John 

 Fortescue and Philippa his wife, who was the grand- 

 daughter of Alice " by her first husband, Clement 

 Spice, granted the manor to George earl of Shrews- 

 bury, 61 whose title was confirmed in 1 506 when Sir 

 John Norbury and Joan his wife surrendered all their 

 right to the manor, 63 and again in 1524, when Sir 

 Edward Bray and Joan his wife renounced all their 

 claim to it. 64 In 1532 the earl sold the manor to 

 Margaret countess of Salisbury, 65 on whose attainder 

 and execution in 1539 the king granted it to William 

 Fitz-William, earl of Southampton, to hold for seventy- 

 one years at a rent of 75 os. 4^. 66 In 1542 the 

 manor was settled upon the earl in tail male with 

 contingent remainder to William, Lord Herbert, son 

 and heir apparent of Henry earl of Worcester, in 

 tail male. 67 The earl of Southampton died without 

 issue less than a year later, 68 and in accordance with 

 the settlement the manor reverted to William, Lord 

 Herbert, who succeeded to the peerage as earl of 

 Worcester 26 November, I549. 69 He died seised of 

 the manor in 1588, his heir being his son Edward, 

 Lord Herbert, 70 who, shortly after succeeding to his 



inheritance, engaged in fierce disputes with William, 

 Lord Sandys, the lord of the adjoining manor of 

 Catherington, concerning his right to the common 

 called the East Heath, which he declared to be parcel 

 of the manor of Chalton, and with Robert Paddon 

 and Arthur Swayne, lords of the neighbouring manor 

 of Hinton Daubnay, concerning their right to the 

 parcel of waste called Woodcrofts. 71 The earl died 

 seised of the manor in 1628, and was succeeded by 

 his second but eldest surviving son Henry, Lord 

 Herbert, aged forty and more." Henry was a zealous 

 supporter of the royal cause, raising and supporting 

 two armies from 1642 to 1646, and being lieutenant- 

 general of the forces in Monmouthshire. On I Decem- 

 ber, 1645, the Commons, in drawing up the peace 

 propositions to be offered to the king, resolved that 

 an estate of 2,500 a year should be conferred on 

 Cromwell, and that the king should be requested to 

 make him a baron. After the failure of the negotia- 

 tions an ordinance of Parliament settled upon him 

 lands to the value named, taken chiefly from the 

 property of the marquis of Worcester, 73 and the 

 king was forced by letters patent to grant to his 

 ' beloved Oliver Cromwell,' 

 his heirs and assigns, the 

 manor of Chalton, ' which 

 manor was lately the here- 

 ditament of Henry earl of 

 Worcester, Edward, Lord Her- 

 bert, and Sir John Somerset, 

 which earl, Edward and John, 

 are recusantes papistici. Oliver 

 Cromwell was seised of the 

 manor till his death, when it 

 passed to his eldest son Rich- 

 ard. 75 After the Restoration 

 the manor was restored to Edward Somerset, marquis 

 of Worcester, son and heir of Henry Somerset, earl of 

 Worcester. He died seised of it in 1667, and was 

 succeeded by his son and heir Henry Somerset, mar- 

 quis of Worcester, who petitioned Charles II for a 

 grant of the reversions remaining in the crown of the 

 manor of Chalton, in order to enable him to raise 

 money to discharge the debts contracted by his 

 father, which much encumbered his estate. 77 This 

 petition was granted 26 December, l66j. n The 

 marquis was created duke of Beaufort in 1682, and 

 died seised of the manor in 1699." Chalton continued 

 to be the property of the duke of Beaufort 80 until 

 about I78o, 81 when it was purchased by Jervoise 



CROMWELL. 

 lion argent. 



Sable a 



61 Inq. p. m. 4 Hen. V, No. 48. 



" Feet of F. Hants. Mich. 4 Hen. V. 



" Inq. p.m. 7 Hen. V, No. 68. 



" Ibid. 27 Hen. VI, No. 38. This 

 Elizabeth was the sister and co-heir of Sir 

 Ralph Boteler, and married (i) Sir Henry 

 Norbury, by whom she had issue a son 

 and heir, Sir John Norbury ; (2) Sir 

 William Heron, Lord of Say, who died 

 Oct. 1404, by whom she had no issue ; 

 and (3) Sir John Montgomery, by whom 

 she had issue John, Thomas, Alice, who 

 married first John Fortescue, and secondly 

 Robert Langley, and another Alice who 

 married first Clement Spice, and secondly 

 Edmund Wiseman (vide Morant, Hist, of 

 Essex, ii, 1 1 6). 



55 Inq. p.m. 27 Hen. VI, No. 36. 



* Ibid. 



"I Ibid. 5 Edw. IV, No. 21. 



59 P.C.C. 22 Vox. 



59 Morant, Hist, of Essex, ii, 116. 



M Close, 1 1 Hen. VII, No. 20. 



Close, 17 Hen. VII, No. 15. 



SJ Anct. Deeds (P.R.O.), B 870 and 

 B 2460 ; De Bane. R. East. 20 Hen. 

 VII, m. 21 ; and Feet of F. Hants, East. 

 20 Hen. VII. 



88 De Bane. R. Mich. 22 Hen. VII, m. 

 21, and Deeds enrolled, m. i d. ; Feet of 

 F. Hants. Mich. 22 Hen. VII. 



64 Feet of F. Hants. East. 15 Hen. 

 VIII. 



65 Ibid. 23 Hen. VIII. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, 291. 

 V Pat. 33 Hen. VIII, pt. 6. 



68 Inq. p.m. 36 Hen. VIII (Ser. 2), Ixx, 

 No. 56. 



69 G. E. C. Complete Peerage, viii, 

 201. 



7** Special Commissions, 1 1 Jas. I, No. 

 4502, and 14 Jas. I, No. 4506. 



105 



~> l Exch. Bills and Aniws. Eliz. Hants. 

 No. 8 1. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. ccccxlii, No. 26. 



7> Thurloe Papers, 1,75. 



7< Pat. 21 Chas. I, pt. i, No. 74. 



" Noble, Memoir* of the Cromwell 

 Family, 334. 



7' G. E. C. Complete Peerage, viii, 

 203. 



77 Cal.ofS.P. Dom. 1667, p. 369. 



78 Pat. 19 Chas. II, pt. 2 ; Cal. of SJ". 

 Dom. 1667-8, pp. 77 and 101. 



7" G. E. C. Complete Peerage, viii, 203 ; 

 and i, 281. 



80 Recov. R. Mich. 10 Geo. II, m. 1-6 ; 

 and East. 14 Geo. III. 



81 It seems impossible to discover the 

 exact date of the purchase, but it must 

 have been some time between 1774 and 

 1787 (cf. Recov. R. East. 14 Geo. Ill, 

 and Inst. Bks. P.R.O.). 



